Battle of Cleves

The Battle of Cleves (late July 1805) was a battle of the Napoleonic Wars that occurred when Grande Armee marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and a French army of 1,749 troops laid siege to the Prussian city of Cleves in Cleves-Mark (now in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Prussian general August von Gneisenau and his 1,704-strong garrison attempted to sortie against the French and repel them, but the French engaged in urban warfare against the Prussians, forming lines of battle outside of the city. The French succeeded in inflicting heavy losses on the Prussians as they launched a failed attack against Davout's well-trained soldiers, and the Prussians were unable to recover from this defeat. Shortly after being defeated in the field, the Prussians were forced to surrender Cleves to the French, and the French created the puppet state of Westphalia with Josias I of Westphalia as its ruler.